International opening of the jubilee year
It is time! The door of the original shrine will be opened
Information about the international opening of the jubilee year of Schoenstatt 18th October 2013
“With great joy we start out on our pilgrimage to your shrine...”- so have prayed Schoenstatt members all over the world for 3 years with the Pilgrimage Prayer 2014. In a few weeks, on October the 18th 2013, we will say: It is time! Our pilgrimage approaches its end. We will open the Jubilee Year 2014 with a great feast at the Original Shrine as International Family. Who would have thought that heaven was going to prepare a jubilee gift for this event? We can celebrate the beginning of our jubilee year with the joy of the gift of the Original Shrine.
¿Which elements will be present on this opening feast?
The Great Pilgrimage
Representatives from many countries will be present in Schoenstatt. They are a sign of the meaning of the jubilee: going back to the origin. We’ll be able to experience Schoenstatt International in many ways: entrance of the countries flags, prayers and songs in various languages and testimonies of Schoenstatters from different cultures. We thank together the “abundant life” that has developed from the beginning in 1914 all over the globe.
Through the presence of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome, the jubilee of Schoenstatt finds itself within the International Church. He will preside the celebration ceremony. Cardinal Rylko is going to be welcomed in Schoenstatt as the “first pilgrim of the jubilee year”. For this is our jubilee celebration, from day one: a great pilgrimage to the shrine of our Mother Thrice Admirable Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt that will have its hight point in October 2014.
The door of the Original Shrine will be opened and even more the hearts
The pilgrim asks in the old testament: “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. (psalm 24, 3)” With this spirit we perform a rite of preparation, a rite of “purification of the heart”, looking backwards to the las 100 years.
In a representative way Cardinal Rylko will open the door of the Original Shrine marking the opening of the jubilee year. The “crossing the threshold” of the shrine has a special meaning. It represents the decision of living in Covenant of Love and creating a new culture, a Covenant Culture. It shows the hope that Mary's heart is open and each pilgrim receives the special graces of the jubilee year.
The opening of the door of the shrine reminds us also that every shrine is like an open door, a request to Mary in the spirit of the 18th of October 1914: come, live and work in our midst!
“Bring the light of the Covenant of Love to the world”
In the shrine we listen the words from Father Kentenich in the founding hour in 1914 and we renew our Covenant of Love. The jubilee torch that was lit in the Founder Chapel symbolizes the mission: “bring the light of the Covenant of Love to the world”. The jubilee year is the “Year of the Covenant of Love”. The year of the joy and the gratitude for the gift of the covenant and all the blessings that come from it. A year of renewal and an invitation to make of the covenant of love the foundation of our life.
“See you in 2014!”
With this words did the young people said good bye to one another after the International Festival in Schoenstatt and the World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005. With this spirit we say this October 18th: Till October 18th 2014! Till the great jubilee next year!
We celebrate together and invite each Schoenstatt member to be here:
- Participate, either coming here or from home, in the opening celebration at the Original Shrine!
- Decorate and open, in union with the original shrine, the door of your daughter, home or heart shrine!
- Let the jubilee year be a celebration of your own covenant of love!
- Be part of the joy and the new awakening of the Schoenstatt Movement!
Beginning of the opening ceremony in Schoenstatt:
19:30 Meditation in preparation and greeting of the guests (transmission: Schoenstatt-TV)
20:00 International opening ceremony (transmission: EWTN)
21:30 Burning of the capital of grace
22:00 Night of the open shrine